USA-Russia
Because it shouldn’t matter that released US athlete Brittney Griner has dark skin
Right-wing America has criticized the prisoner swap with Russia that President Joe Biden agreed to this week. Russian ruler Vladimir Putin in particular benefits from this criticism.
American athlete Brittney Griner on a Russian plane shortly before her release at a UAE airport on Thursday.
The Russian president may look battered. But Vladimir Putin hasn’t lost his bite. Again and again, the Kremlin ruler manages to get a little closer to the main goal than he is – the division of the Western world, in which, unlike Russia, there is a lively culture of debate.
A current example of this is the discussion that broke out in the USA after the release of the Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout (55) and the American basketball player Brittney Griner (32). Right-wing America accuses President Joe Biden’s government of opening itself to blackmail with the exchange of prisoners.
And he complains that former career soldier Paul Whelan is still seething behind Russian bars because he is a Trump voter and because Biden only defends Democratic clientele.
This criticism is wrong. In fact, the Kremlin severely harassed the African American woman after she made a stupid mistake and tried to enter Russia with hashish oil in her luggage. It’s also a fact that Whelan, who was arrested while Donald Trump was in office, has no prominent supporters.
So the Kremlin knew exactly how America would react to the release of a polarizing, divided figure, as it often does lately. This division is part of a democracy, even if it hurts sometimes.
But if one part of the country doesn’t care about the fate of a US citizen, then one person in particular benefits: Vladimir Putin, who has staying power as a democratically legitimated politician. In any case, Paul Whelan won’t be released any faster if Brittney Griner is insulted.
